The NHL Trade Deadline is just over a month away, and you can be sure that the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to make a move.
The Toronto Maple Leafs had won 80% of the points available to them for a three + month run, covering over one-third of the season, before getting goalied in back to back games last week.
Due in part to this insane streak, the Toronto Maple Leafs are on pace for their best ever regular season in the franchise history, and will definitely be making moves to improve at the deadline.
Yesterday saw the first move of the upcoming arms race, with the Calgary Flames adding Tyler Toffoli from the Montreal Canadiens. This first move sets the price, and since it’s very reasonable, I think this is good news for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tyler Toffoli Trade
The full trade is that Montreal sends Calgary Toffoli in exchange for a first (top ten protected) a 5th, Emil Heineman and a soon-to-be UFA Tyler Pitlick, ostensibly included for cap reasons.
Basically, Montreal gets a 1st, a 5th, and a 2nd from last year. That’s a great package for a rebuilding team, but it’s really not much to pay for adding a potential star player to your lineup.
Toffoli is signed for two more years, and is one of the best 5v5 offensive players alive. This is a significant addition for Calgary that makes them much better.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, as I see, benifit here in two ways.
For one, Toffoli doesn’t go to a team in the Eastern Conference, and so Calgary getting better can only really matter to them in the absolute best case scenario, and so is of no concern.
Secondly, the low price for a team buying a star player with term is incredibly tempting. The Leafs may be looking at a similar upgrade, and a package of their first rounder, a 5th rounder, Travis Dermott and say Roni Hirvonen (former 2nd rounder) wouldn’t hurt too much.
It might be a bit much for a rental (then again, for a really good rental, you might have to pay to get the other team to retain salary) but for a player with term, especially a star player, it’s extremely team friendly.
I think Montreal should be happy that they flipped a player they signed as a UFA into three assets, but I think Calgary should be ecstatic about the fairly low price they paid to get Toffoli.